Sena chief is in Delhi to discus issues pertaining demonetisation with Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, especially the concerns of farmers in Maharashtra...

mumbaiUpdated: Dec 08, 2016 15:29 IST

Ketaki Ghoge

Hindustan Times

Thackeray is in Delhi to meet Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to discuss issues pertaining demonetisation, especially concerns of farmers in Maharashtra, who are bearing the brunt of this decision. (Arvind Yadav)

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray once again trained his gun on the central government, a month after demonetisation decision was implemented, pointing out that it was unfortunate that voices of the citizens were not being heard in the Parliament.

Thackeray is in Delhi to meet Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to discuss issues pertaining demonetisation, especially concerns of farmers in Maharashtra, who are bearing the brunt of this decision.

Thackeray’s decision to meet Jaitley independently, even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is leading an all-party delegation to New Delhi on Thursday evening, is an indicator that Shiv Sena keen on maintaining its identity separate despite being part of the BJP-led state government at Centre and in Maharashtra.

“Advaniji is a senior politician and his voice should be heeded in the matter. It is unfortunate that people’s voice is not getting heard in the Parliament. And, standing in queues is being equated with patriotism. This is nothing but making a mockery of patriotism,” said Thackeray during a press conference in New Delhi.

He also challenged the centre to make its position clear on whether the farmers will be made to pay taxes in the near future.

“For so long, farmers have not been taxed. Now, suddenly, you ask them to put all their monies in the bank, which you can regard as black money and on top of it there are restrictions on withdrawing that money. Co-operative banks, through which most farmers do business, have not been injected by any cash,” he added.